


Voting in space

by Nyena



Category: The Martian (2015), The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25944775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyena/pseuds/Nyena
Summary: This is really how they vote from the ISS! I think it's pretty bad ass. Their last election in space wouldn't have been a presidential one but it's cooler sooo.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Voting in space

Mark worked his way up to the cockpit where he knew Martinez would be because he’d set it up for him to be there for his new video. His videos had been less frequent since he had gotten back on the Hermes but NASA had requested one on this topic and he couldn’t say no to this topic. Mark turned on the camera and turned it around so he was in the frame.  
“Hey kids! Mark Watney astronaut, here on board the Hermes! I’m in a place you guys haven’t seen before. I’m right below the cockpit. Right above us is the bridge of our ship where pretty much all of the controls are and where we conduct all of the maneuvers to move the Hermes around. Arguably the most important spot on board let’s go check it out” After that Mark chucked the camera up the ladder where it rotated slowly in the zero gravity still recording. After it had made a full rotation so he was back in view Mark kicked off the wall and followed the camera into the bridge. Once on the bridge, Mark looked around and saw Martinez strapped in sitting in the pilot's seat on his personal computer right where he said he would be. Mark grabbed the camera out of the air and grabbed a handhold to bring his drift to a stop. “Look guys it’s our pilot Major Martinez actually where he is supposed to be for once!” Rick looked up from his computer and waved at the camera “Hey Mark are we making a video for earth?”  
“Sure are” Mark smiled” Why don’t you tell earth what you're doing.”  
“Just doing my civic duty”  
Mark turned the camera around so it could see him rolling his eyes “Couldn’t you say that going to Mars was your civic duty? And wait, you're not a civilian,you’re in the air force does that count?”  
Martinez clicked something on his computer as he responded ”Civic duty has nothing to do with if you’re a civilian or not.” Mark had turned the camera back to show Martinez but you could hear him laughing in the background. ”Okay so what civic duty are you doing today?” Martinez turned his computer screen towards the camera which showed a typical American voting ballot which he had purposely left blank because he knew they were going to make this video. ”Just picking my next boss.” Mark smiled there was a reason he'd asked Martinez to help him with this video he was good in front of a camera. ” Wait, you got to pick commander Lewis? I wasn’t told that. NASA just told me she was the commander. I didn't get a choice. What’s wrong with commander Lewis? We land in a few weeks, can’t you just let her finish the mission in peace?” Martinez laughed ” In all seriousness though Rick what are you really doing?”Martinez looked at the camera as he responded  
”I'm voting in the US election that goes on in November.” Mark gasped and turned the camera around to show his shocked face and then zoomed in on the ballot logo on the computer screen. ”Are you telling me that you get to vote for the president in space?”  
”We sure do,” Martinez responded.  
”How does that work?” Mark asked, encouraging Martinez to say more as he kicked off the ceiling where he’d ended up to get a different shot.  
“Well” Martinez continued, “NASA sends us up articles,videos and debates from all of the candidates and then they send us up an Electronic ballot each and we fill it out. Once we’ve filled it out it’s sent back down to earth in an encoded data dump.”  
“Wow” Mark said, trying to break up Martinez’s long winded explanation. “Encrypted? Does that mean that whoever gets our ballots in the data dump can’t read them?”  
“That’s right” Johanssen said as she entered the bridge “Sorry I didn’t know you were making a video”  
“No No it’s perfect” Mark mouthed as he moved the camera to show the newcomer and gestured for her to keep talking. “The only people who will have access to the decrypted ballots are the people in charge of the election” Johanssen said as she pushed off the handhold she’d grabbed and worked her way towards her chair. “NASA will never know who we voted for, not even our flight directors. It’s a pretty cool encryption actually. I actually came up here to vote as well”  
“Cool,” Mark said from his new perch on the wall. “So how do the people in charge of the election get our ballots?”  
Johanssen strapped herself into her seat as she responded “Well, NASA sends them to our respective polling places in Texas and from there they are treated like normal ballots”  
“EPIC!” Mark said “So it’s that easy to vote in space?”  
“Sure is” Johanssen smiled looking at the camera. Mark turned the camera back to his face. “There you have it. SPACE VOTING, pretty cool” Mark turned the camera back to Martinez and Johanssen “So” Mark continued “if it’s that easy to vote in space do people on earth have an excuse to not vote?”  
“Nope.” Johanssen and Martinez said in unison not looking up from their respective screens. Mark turned the Camera around one last time so he was in view “So from all of us on board the Hermes minus the German of course so go vote! Well, if you want to be as cool as an astronaut that is.” After that Mark pushed the camera away from him and did the mandatory zero gravity flip while waving “Hermes out!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is really how they vote from the ISS! I think it's pretty bad ass. Their last election in space wouldn't have been a presidential one but it's cooler sooo.


End file.
